“David and the Ark of God”

2 Samuel 6:1-19

August 20, 2006

Much time has passed and many things have happened since we were last with David in the valley of Elah fighting Goliath and the Philistines. After winning victory over Goliath and the Philistines, David returned to his homeland to the shouts and cheers of the people in the towns of Israel as they proclaimed “Saul has killed his thousand, and David his ten thousands.” David’s fame was growing, and his reputation on the battlefield was beginning to spread throughout Israel; much to the displeasure of Saul. For Saul, David’s popularity had now become a direct threat to his throne, and for the first time Saul became afraid of David.

The remainder of 1 Samuel depicts this ongoing political struggle between David and Saul. On two occasions, Saul himself tries to kill David only to have David escape into the outlying areas in the countryside. The text tells story after story of Saul pursuing David relentlessly throughout the land, but each time David escapes. With each passing day, Saul becomes more isolated and self-centered. His hatred and fear of David erodes the very fabric of his character and consciousness. Saul can no longer rule Israel effectively as long as David is alive.

With Saul’s vengeance against David running rampant, David becomes more and more powerful and popular as Saul’s own power and popularity continues to diminish. As David continues to flee from Saul, he begins to amass his own army of followers and loyalists even people from the towns of Israel begin to conspire against Saul in helping to protect and give shelter and aid to David and his comrades. Even Saul’s own son, Jonathan, helps protect David from Saul’s murderous plots against David.

With the beginning of 2 Samuel, David is on his way to becoming king. Saul and his sons die during a battle with the Philistines leaving open the kingship over Israel. David has everything in place to become king. He has the reputation of a great warrior and leader. He has the loyalty of the people. He is faithful to Yahweh and righteous in his works. And he has the authority of God’s blessing and anointing.

Soon David becomes king of the southern kingdom of Judah. Israel is still divided, but soon that would change with the assassination of Ishbaal the king of the northern kingdom of Israel. With the assassination of King Ishbaal by Saul sympathizers, the northern kingdom is thrown into chaos. The people look for someone to save them from the political fallout and uncertainty of not having a king – and their eyes turn to David. He stands as the lone figure who can not only bring the people of God out of chaos, but who can also unite a divided country. And so David becomes king over the united Israel. David captures Jerusalem and makes Jerusalem his city, the city of David, but there is on more move David must make in order to firmly establish and legitimize is kingship. He must recover that which has been out of the picture for so long. He must return to Israel that which belongs to Israel – the ark of God.

After 20 years of dormancy, the ark is once again brought into the story of God’s people through David. This time the ark becomes a vehicle of royal legitimacy. The union of the two kingdoms of Israel was a precarious one. The old guard of the northern kingdom of Israel were still leery of this new king David. David may have had great fame for his military victories, but his ability to fight in battles were not enough to give the old guard of northern Israel the confidence in David’s ability to be ruler and king.

In a remarkable political move, David does what no one had yet thought to do. He takes the greatest symbol of Yahweh’s dangerous and crucial presence and holy rule in the lives of God’s people, and he uses it as the means to bring legitimacy to his own royal reign. Saul would have never done this. The people would have not accepted it. But with David, God’s chosen and anointed king, the one whom the spirit of God had descended upon, he could do it, because David knew that God was with him, and so did the people of God.

David knew that God had called him for a purpose to rule of God’s people. But with the infusion of the ark into the political equation, David makes a bold claim – that the raw power and presence of Yahweh is now present and at work in his kingship. The old guard of northern Israel could no longer oppose or be critical of David’s reign, even if they wanted to. David and now David’s city has become the center of Yahweh’s power and presence and sovereign rule.

David’s act of legitimation works. The people rejoice and dance and sing songs of praise as David brings the ark of God from absence into presence, from obscurity into prominence once again. The coming of the ark signified two things for the king. It means a reegagement with the taproot of Israel’s religious vitality. David gets back in touch with the most elemental dimensions of Israel’s traditional faith. The reclaiming of the ark is an opportunity for a power effort to assert the new regime as the rightful successor to the old tribal arrangement. In other words, the act of bringing the ark into Jerusalem lifts up the ancient religious traditions of the tribes of Israel that came out of Sinai and at the same time it declares that God is now doing something new in creating David’s royal kingdom and authority.

The ark is enormously welcomed by God’s people. But something happens on the way to Israel that would be a reminder to all about God’s awesome power and authority.

As the procession transporting the ark nears Jerusalem, the ark becomes unbalanced and begins to tip to one side. Fearing that the ark might fall, Uzzah reaches out his hand to steady the ark. With the touch of his hand upon the ark of God, Uzzah falls dead in his tracks, struck down by the power and might of Yahweh. It is a sobering event and a sobering reminder to David and all of Israel that the ark of God must not be presumed upon, taken for granted, or treated with familiarity. The holiness of God is indeed present in the ark, but that holiness is not readily available, and cannot be manipulated for ones own purpose.

To touch the ark is to impinge on God’s holiness, to draw too close and presume too much. The death of Uzzah is the great reminder of God’s awesome and holy otherness, and it evokes the awestruck question that must be asked by everyone, including David, “How can the ark come to me?” The death of Uzzah is a reminder to David that God is to be feared and revered. When the people of God are no longer awed, respectful or fearful of God’s holiness, the community is put at risk.

David may intend to use the ark for his own purpose, for religious equipment has a powerful legitimating effect. Such a political use, however, does not empty the old symbol of its formidable theological power. The ark is not merely a useful tool. Beyond its utilization, there is an awesome presence to which attention must be paid, and awesome presence that David must pay attention to as well. David must remember that is authority, while great and powerful, is only secondary to the authority and great power of Yahweh.

David may be using the ark of God to convey a message about his kingship, and may even truly want to show the people of God that Yahweh is indeed present in David’s rule over Israel, but David must be cautious. David must not use Yahweh’s authority and great power simply for David’s personal and professional enhancement. David is king because it was Yahweh who called him to be king. David is king because it is Yahweh who anointed him and gave him the authority to rule over God’s people. To usurp Yahweh’s authority as Sovereign over all of Creation, and claim for oneself a higher authority and power is to turn the ark of God into an idol of worship and make a mockery of Yahweh’s holiness and majestic sovereign rule.

As we continue to hear other stories about the life of David, let us remember this story, and let us, like David, be mindful of how we worship and why we worship the Lord.